Venison

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by Ken Anderson, Nov 22, 2015.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    For some reason, I never got into hunting, but I was the only one in my family who didn't hunt, so we had a lot of venison in the freezer. Growing up in the UP of Michigan, I loved venison steaks, and it was also used in several other dishes, sometimes mixed with other meats, such as beef or pork.

    After graduating from high school, I spent one year in college before moving to Southern California, where I lived for twelve years before moving to the Rio Grand Valley of Texas. There are whitetail deer in Texas too, and I was invited to have venison at a friend's house one day. It was fresh because he had just been hunting, but I thought it was terrible, so bad that I could barely eat it, even to be polite.

    A year or so later, I was at another friend's house, who had venison, and it was also terrible, although those who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas liked it. Since it was the same species of deer, and I don't think that the problem was in the preparation, I'm thinking that it must be in whatever the whitetail deer in the Rio Grande Valley eat. I don't know for sure though, and I have trouble understanding how anyone could like it.

    Here in Maine, venison tastes fine, and just as it does in Michigan, and both the UP of Michigan and Maine are very similar environments, with much of the same vegetation.
     
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  2. Ruby Begonia

    Ruby Begonia Supreme Member
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    I have to say I've tried venison 3 ways; steaks, well seasoned meat loaf and a bourgnoine- style stew. I didn't like any of it.

    The steak and meatoaf were from northern east coast; the stew was from OK.

    If beef is your standard of excellence for red meat and want game that's similar, moose is the best bet. It's hard to tell the difference! My ex father in law got a moose while hunting in Maine one year. We stopped over one Sunday night sometime after that and picked on the left over pot roast, which was so delicious.

    Imagine our surprise when he told us it was moose!
     
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  3. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Deer, like goats, are browsers, and they both like to nibble on tree leaves, and bushes; whereas sheep and cattle are grazers, and they eat grasses.
    Although there are differences in flavors from grasses, the leaves certainly have a lot more variety of tastes.
    When I had milk goats, the milk would taste different , depending on what the goat had been eating; so it makes sense that venison from different areas would also have different flavors.

    My folks were hunters, too, and we usually had a deer, and sometimes an elk to eat in the winter. My mom would cut the venison into strips, flour it, and pan fry the strips. They were maybe the most delicious meat that I have ever eaten, or at least they left a wonderful memory of eating them when I was a little girl.
    They looked similar to what we call "chicken fingers", and they were tender and easy to eat.

    I have hunted for pheasant and grouse, and even shot a squirrel once; but I have not ever hunted for deer, and think that I wuuld hate to do that. I had to shoot one once that had been hit by a car, and its back was broken. The poor thing was crying, and it had no hopes of anything but a painful death ahead; so I shot it, but it made me cry to do so.
     
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  4. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    Although venison is not common here but not really that rare, the most popular venison dish is the Tapang Usa - translated as venison jerky. But this meat jerky is not the tough one, it's supposed to be dried but quite soft. It is mostly eaten with fried rice and sliced tomatoes for breakfast. In the mountain communities where deer hunting is common, venison is also common on the dining table.

    My father-in-law was a good hunter of wild boar and deer in the forested mountain of Sierra Madre, the nearest mountain range to Manila. My husband said that there was a time that they would be eating wild boar meat and deer meat for 1 week. There is one recipe that my husband had inherited from his mother. It is an original recipe that we call Lutong Usa which means venison dish (usa is deer and Luto is cooking). But we don't use venison instead we prefer beef.

    PS. There is a Sunday market here where you can find deer meat and wild boar meat as well.
     
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  5. Ruby Begonia

    Ruby Begonia Supreme Member
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    Yvonne I felt sorry to hear about the deer. You're very brave. I liked hearing about the rest, how flavors change etc. I never thought about it before.
     
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  6. Steve North

    Steve North Supreme Member
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    Deer, Moose, Beaver, and Black Bear are meats that are very common up here where we live..
    Yes, I have eaten all of them and actually still have in the freezer some Moose and Bear in minced form.. I had some Moose just last week..

    It is now hunting season up here in Northern Ontario and all of those animals will end up on someone's table.....
    Nothing goes to waste.. We make sausages from the scraps and often mix different meats to make a different sausage......
     
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  7. Krissttina Isobe

    Krissttina Isobe Veteran Member
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    :oops:Unlike all of you I've never had venison, bear, beaver, squirrel, duck, goat or even sheep. I like just chicken, beef, pork or veggie burgers and bacon. I am not too adventurous when it comes to food. Here in Hawaii you got to have all kinds of permit to hunt and fish. We like sea food too. There is wild pheasant hunting season and fishing seasons too locally. Turtle is on the endangered list and cannot be hunted like seals or whale. Just not too adventurous when it comes to meat, sorry.
     
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  8. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I'm an animal lover but I have nothing against hunting, my family never hunted but my husband loved it.

    I'm not fond of the flavor of any wild meat...to me it's too gamey. I think it depends on the animal and how it's prepared also.
     
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  9. Terry Page

    Terry Page Supreme Member
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    Yes I agree, though semi-vegetarian most of the time, I never liked the gamey taste of most wild meat .................I also avoid wild vegetables sometimes.

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  10. Carlota Clemens

    Carlota Clemens Veteran Member
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    My dad was into hunting since he was teenager and until before illness stopped his hunting hobby, so I can say to have taste almost any meat from the preys he used to brought home, from ducks to rabbits, to quails, boar, venison and many other.

    So that I tasted all type of meats and yet prefer a juicy piece of beef from the butchery, LOL

    However I remember the taste of venison to be delicate, as delicate is its light reddish/pink color when rear, but while it is tasty indeed, I am a person with preference for strong flavors, and when it comes to doneness I prefer a rare steak, I can also remember to have tried rare venison and let me tell you that I didn't like the taste, having to get it well-done for the next times.
     
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